Huckabee scolds Obama in East Jerusalem

JERUSALEM — Republican Mike Huckabee slammed President Barack Obama's policies toward Israel yesterday in a visit that underscored the tensions between the Obama administration and the Israeli government over Jewish settlements in Palestinian areas.

Huckabee criticized the Obama administration's calls for ending such settlements and said Obama's position encouraged the Palestinian government not to negotiate with Israel.

More important than Huckabee's words, however, was where he chose to deliver them: at several Jewish enclaves in the mostly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem that Israel and the Palestinian Authority both claim.

“The policies are a drastic change from previous administrations,” Huckabee said at Maale Zeitim, a 100-unit housing project at the foot of the Mount of Olives. “Halting peace talks until 20 families are moved out? Our focus should be on Iran, and not on where 20 Jewish families are moving.”

Huckabee's final appearance was at a dinner at the Shepherd Hotel, where an American Jewish entrepreneur plans to build 20 housing units for Jewish Israelis in East Jerusalem. Last month, the State Department urged Israel to cancel the project.

“It concerns me that some in the U.S. tell Israelis they can't live where they want in their own country,” Huckabee said.

The United States has always opposed Israeli settlements in Palestinian areas, but previous presidents rarely took action as Israel expanded its presence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The Israeli government claims that it reached an understanding with the George W. Bush administration that allowed limited settlement expansion, but Obama officials deny that such an understanding exists.

Huckabee's visit was sponsored by Ateret Cohanim, an organization that buys land in Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods and settles Jews there.